As a college student myself, I think it is safe to say that a good amount of college students utilize Snapchat to communicate or send streaks to our friends, and Amazon to purchase textbooks or restock the 36 pack of Ramen-noodles. As if shopping on undoubtedly the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing company was not easy enough, Amazon just found a new way to make it even easier for its consumers, especially us college students. As of Tuesday, September 26th, Amazon and Snapchat created a partnership aimed to allow Snapchat users to shop on Amazon.

The partnership promotes the visual shopping experience for consumers by enabling Snapchat users to focus any object or barcode with their phone’s camera while on the social app and if the item is available on Amazon, a pop up card of the product’s information and price would appear; the user would simply click through to the Amazon app to review and purchase the item if desired. According to Laura Heller of Forbes, Amazon is now easily accessible to Snapchat’s 190 million daily active users. In a Pew research, almost 80% of internet users, aged between 18-24 years old, use Snapchat and according to the social media app themselves, its users are 20% more likely to make mobile purchases and 60% more likely to make impulse purchases.

For me, the partnership probably will not alter my consumer behavior because I am just a broke college kid; I buy products that I really need and tend not to purchase items impulsively. However, I do believe this new feature on snap would be useful and utilized by younger teens and college students whether its when they go shopping or try to find the lowest cost of the textbook that is required for their class. Students could easily open up Snapchat and scan the bar code or book cover and quickly be able to see if it is available on Amazon at a lower price. The feature is currently being tested and has not been released to all Snapchat users.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2018/09/26/amazon-and-snapchat-form-a-powerful-partnership/#2519733875b6

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3392605-snap-amazon-partnership-reasons-prospects?dr=1#email_link

Have you ever woke up one lethargic morning, already running late to start your day and desperately in need of coffee; however in a hurry situation you either make too hot coffee or just drink the coffee straight out of the refrigerator. If you categorize yourself among the above-mentioned description then lift your spirit guys because there is a solution to your undrinkable coffee.

Let me present to you Ember ceramic smart mug which lets you control the temperature of your beverage. An extraordinary mug equipped with a built-in microprocessor and a dual-zone heating element at its base that lets you control it via smartphone. This amazing piece of tech lets you keep your coffee’s temperature stable for at least an hour. The companion app provides a wide array of temperature choices to pick from like 126 for a latte, 30 for coffee, 132 for tea. Additionally, you can also customize your own temperature. Like every coin, it also has a drawback; it is quite an expensive investment (ranging from $80-150). Because of its high-end price this good falls under luxurious goods and can only be marketed to a very narrow demographic.

The feature I find most fascinating is the “rapid cooling system” that pulls out heat from the cup to cool it more quickly so that you don’t burn your tongue when in a hurry. But, this fancy feature comes in the Ember’s pricier travel mug option sold for $150. I love the concept of the technology that can be really helpful to the C-suite employees of a company, who haven’t got time to enjoy their coffee but definitely have the money to buy such a product. Would you like to get your hands on this amazing innovation?

Reference: https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-this-smart-mug-make-your-coffee-better-1538060806?mod=foesummaries#comments_sector

“An article by Matthew Kitchen, gear and gadgets editor at Wall Street Journal”.

I love to travel and see new places, I have been lucky enough to see places all over the world and experience different cultures with my family. Have you ever traveled somewhere before without an idea of what you want to do when you get there and the concierge at the hotel is no help or steers you wrong? It can be an extremely overwhelming feeling when you get to your destination and want to get everything in but have no plan or sense of direction.

With Google’s launch of new trip planning tools, you can leave all that worry behind. This trip planning feature has been in existence but Google has made some big changes and additions to this function. It helps to find the best hotel options, things to do around you, and ideal times to fly based on prices from the previous year. There are tools to help you get from airport to hotel, best places to eat or drink, and transportation routes around you. Also, the feature “Your Trips” helps you organize what you want to do with the option to save the information you search to do their and price tracking you have done.

This ingenious invention will make the planning of a trip feel like less of a chore and more like an early start on vacation! I wish these tools were around for previous trips I have been on so that I could have maximized the places I saw while saving some money. I will definitely be using this Google made tool in the future!

https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/google-launches-new-travel-planning-tools/

Reference:

Lardinois, Frederic. “Google Launches New Travel-Planning Tools.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 27 Sept. 2018, techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/google-launches-new-travel-planning-tools/.

Have you ever received a mobile scam call? According to the article, the so-called robocalls and call spoofing argued the number of mobile scam calls rising from 3.7 percent in 2017 to 29.2 percent in 2018. And with this trend, there may be about 44.6 percent of scam calls in early 2019. This issue becomes serious and catches people’s attention. The article included that the First Orion executive vice president Scott Hambuchen stated that consumers are being scammed out of “hundreds of millions of dollars a year”, leading to a drop in confidence in unknown calls. The FCC and some technology companies find ways to deal with this problem. They found that in-network solutions that use sophisticated data analysis and machine learning are by far the most accurate way to find out the origin of the call and identify it before it reaches your phone.

This is a topic relates to all of us. I heard my friend’s experience last semester. My Chinese friend got a scam call telling him that the customs seized two books containing his 12 credit cards at the airport and told him he is suspected of fraud in the united states. The man asked him to provide domestic bank card information as a deposit for the investigation. My friend kept calm and asked his friend about this situation and also searched the phone number on the Internet. He saw the number is a scam call. My friend is just one of many.

The rising of scam calls kept us on our toes to avoid swindled. Although some organizations provide the safety for people to see the origin and the identity of the call, people still need to pay attention to it. There are many tips for people to remember. Do not include much of your personal information such as workplace or salaries on your social account because it may cause others to target you. Keep calm when you receive a call that asks for your card information. You need to figure out who he or she is.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/scam-call-mobile-phone-fraud-first-orion-fcc-a8552136.html

Photo from https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/02/missed-call-scam/

Amazon Alexa is widely known as a home device. However, Amazon releases the first Echo Auto for people to use in their cars. According to Amazon, the Echo Auto can use people’ voice to play the music, check the news, ask for direction, or even make calls. And as Andrew Griffin mentioned in the article, Amazon introduced this device to allow users having voice control in their car no matter how new their vehicle is. And the company mentioned the microphones had to be redeveloped to get rid of the noise from the car and the road.

This Echo Auto can reduce traffic accidents to a certain extent. David Crundall argued that hundreds of research studies were conducted and agreed that the use of the mobile phone during driving is dangerous and pervasive. With the Echo Auto, people don’t need to use their phone to add dangerously. Moreover, this innovation provides convenience for people such as me who want Alexa in their cars’ system but their cars are too old to have this system. For example, when I use Google Map on my phone to navigate while driving, it distracts me a lot because sometimes I need to type my destination during driving. Also, I may lose my concentration when I need to use my phone to check the schedule during driving. With this Echo Auto, I can just ask for help. The Echo Auto surprised me a lot.

This is the first time for Alexa to leave the house. What if there will be the second time or the third time? Will Alexa comes to the library and helps people to quickly find resources in the library? Will Alexa comes to the hospital and assists doctors to work? There is a huge possibility for Alexa to join more areas and play a significant role in people’s life. I am looking forward to it.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/amazon-auto-alexa-car-device-new-latest-update-car-connect-a8547771.html

http://theconversation.com/why-using-a-mobile-phone-while-driving-is-so-dangerous-even-when-youre-hands-free-71833